Mohels Say They Will Not Follow NYC Law On Circumcision Informed Consent

The leading association for mohelim who practice a risky oral blood
suctioning technique in their circumcisions has vowed not to cooperate
with New York City’s new health regulations governing use of the
technique, known as metzitzah b’peh.

Brooklyn mohel Rabbi Avrohom Cohn, chairman of the
American Board of Ritual Circumcision, said his group would not have
parents sign waiver forms, which the city is now requiring as a
condition for performing metzitzah b’peh.

“He’s the mayor of the biggest city in the world, but
I’m not going to listen to him,” Cohn said, referring to New York City
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has strongly backed the new rules. “I have
another mayor, the almighty, and I will do it his way.”

The regulation, put out by the city’s board of health,
requires parents to provide a signed consent form to a mohel before that
mohel may perform metzitzah b’peh. The technique, in which the mohel
uses his mouth to suction off blood from around a baby’s penis after
cutting the infant’s foreskin, has been found to transmit herpes simplex
virus, which can cause serious injury, and even death, to infants.

On January 14, four days after Manhattan federal Judge
Naomi Reice Buchwald denied a request for a preliminary injunction
against the regulation, the city’s Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene posted the consent form on its website in English and Yiddish.
The rule came into force that day.

Orthodox defenders of the practice have filed a notice
of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reverse
Buchwald’s ruling, but that is pending.…

According to the Forward, Agudath Israel of America and Satmar, the two key plaintiffs in the suit against city over the informed consent along with Kohn's mohels, have not told followers to disobey the law.

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